Hizb Allah Denies Plan to Wreck Isreali/Palestinian Peace - WWIII

In an interview with Reuters news agency, the group's Deputy Secretary-General Shaikh Naim Qasim also said that disarming its fighters as demanded by a UN resolution, was not possible "now or in the future".

Qasim termed baseless reports that Hizb Allah was trying to recruit Palestinian resistance fighters to derail the latest peace efforts in the Middle East.

"They show the existence of an Israeli cell working to spread such ideas before Israeli actions to destroy the truce by repeated aggressions against the Palestinians," he said.

He said Hizb Allah propounded a Palestinian right to resist Israeli occupation of their land, by which the group usually means both Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip that the Israelis seized in the 1967 war.

"When we speak of support, it is moral support that does not interfere in Palestinian daily life," Qasim said.

 

Middle-Eastern Perception of U.S. May Change - Geo-Politics

King Abdullah II of Jordan said in an interview that with positive developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a negative perception of the United States in the Middle East could change for the better.

Speaking on ABC News, King Abdullah said that with the US negative image problem in recent years there exists "obviously, a perception in the Middle East that Israel is the only country that holds sway in the United States. So there is a biased outlook toward the Middle East."

"As a result, people feel that Palestinians have been short-changed. But I believe that if we see movement on the Israeli-Palestinian issue and out of Iraq (news - web sites), then, the views are going to change," said King Abdullah, speaking after a meeting at the White House with President George W. Bush (news - web sites).

The US president met with Jordan's king in the Oval Office to discuss Iraq, democratic reforms in the Middle East and efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Relating to the optimism felt as a result of these changes, including the Iraq elections, "I hope at the end of the day, whatever part America has played in it, will get the credit for making the Middle East a better place."

For the past several weeks, the United States has been more active in the Middle East peace process. And, on Tuesday, Bush again spoke of his desire to see Israel and the Palestinians make every effort to find a solution to their conflict.

Meanwhile, Bush has also nominated one of his closest advisors Karen Hughes as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy with an ambassador's rank, aimed to boost the image of the United States abroad, in the wake of adverse publicity, especially due to the Iraq war.

 

VIDEO: House Judiciary Committee Ends Gannon Inquiry - Moral Vacuum

CLICK HERE and forward to the 7:22:48 mark to watch the House Judiciary committee vote down a resolution demanding the Bush Administration turn over documentation concerning how a male prostitute using a fake name was able to bypass normal security procedures to gain regular access to the White House.

Republicans voted down Democrats in the 21-10 party-line vote to ignore their constitutional responsibility in performing oversight of the Executive branch.

Unedited "Discovery Channel" Video of D.C. Homo-Paedophile Ring

 

9/11 Suspect Contacts Family - 9/11

A suspect in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks who fled Germany before the hijackings remains in contact with family members, a relative testified Wednesday at the retrial of an alleged accomplice of the militants.

The suspect, Said Bahaji, sent an e-mail to his wife on Jan. 27, her stepfather, Andreas Scholz, told the Hamburg state court. He did not give details of the contents and had no information on where the mail might have come from.

Bahaji, a German national, is believed to have provided logistical support for the Hamburg cell that included suicide hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah.

He fled Germany shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks and remains at large. Germany still has an international warrant out for his arrest.

Judges considering the retrial of suspected cell helper Mounir el Motassadeq already have heard an intercepted 2003 telephone call in which Bahaji told his wife that he and others close to the hijackers knew nothing of the planned attacks. The court also has been presented with a 2002 letter from Bahaji to his mother in which he wrote:

"Mounir didn't know anything."

Scholz said that in his communications with his family, Bahaji has insisted he is innocent.

El Motassadeq, a 30-year-old Moroccan, is being retried on more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organization.

He was convicted in 2003 on the same charges and sentenced to the maximum 15 years, but an appeals court threw out the conviction last year and ordered a retrial. It ruled that he had been unfairly denied testimony by key al-Qaida suspects in U.S. custody.

 

26 U.S. Prisoner Deaths May Be Murder - War on Terror

U.S. military officials have increased the number of suspected homicides of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan to 26, the New York Times reports.

The new figure was provided by the Army and Navy this week after repeated inquiries by the newspaper. In 18 cases, investigators have closed their inquiries and have recommended them for prosecution or referred them to other agencies for action, Army and Navy officials said.

Only one of the deaths occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, officials said.

Army officials said the killings took place both inside and outside detention areas, including at the point of capture in violent battlefield conditions.

At least four homicides involve Central Intelligence Agency employees that are being reviewed by the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

In addition to the 26 criminal homicides, 11 cases involving prisoner deaths at the hands of U.S. troops are listed as justifiable homicides that should not be prosecuted, Army officials said. Those cases included killings committed by soldiers suppressing prisoner riots in Iraq while other prisoners have died in captivity of natural causes, the military found.